Haiku Ellipses...Invitation...Response...

TAG 6 swirling colors bending, bumping, running around playing tag...you're it! perhaps when you were growing up, you played a game called "tag"...one person is "it" and chases the other playmates, trying to touch (tag) them...once tagged, that person is "it" and chases others, trying to tag them, and so on until (in my day) Mom called for dinner...it's great fun with lots of people...in the image, there are 6 swirling colors intertwined playing tag...any group or team of people might play a similar game of tag...some examples: in a circle group with a talking stick, the person holding the stick is "it" and says their "peace" before tagging (handing the stick to) the next person in team sports like soccer, basketball, or football, the one with the ball is "it" until they are tagged with the ball (passing the ball), someone taking the ball away, scoring a goal, or being tackled in football in a jazz band, different memb...

MOUNTAIN TOP top of the mountain passage blocked by solid ice melting at the crown in Bruce Frantzis version of qi gong, one begins sensing what is strong, tense, and "not quite right" at the top (crown) of the head, letting the felt sensations melt like "ice to water" down through the body, the perineum and into the feet and earth...this is called "sinking the chi"...the assumption is that at the top of our mountain (the crown of the head), part of our energy (chi) is blocked like ice, and that we, by placing our attention there, can gradually melt the ice, letting the released energy flow down the body, and into the ground, providing us with relaxation, ease, centeredness...we need to ground our body's energy circuit before we begin circulating chi energy in the more advanced movements of qi gong. practice by standing barefoot (on the earth outside is ideal) with feet comfortably apart, hands resting lightly at the sides, eyes softly closed...stay as...

L L P listening, love, peace 3 books for cultivating  a beautiful life SONG is an acronym that represents 4 interrelated life contexts: self (S), others (O), nature (N), and Goddess-God-the Divine (G). There are many life SONG's within these 4 contexts, 3 of the more important being: listening, love, and peace.  I teach undergraduate upper level college courses in each of these subjects: (1) Listening to the SONG of Life, (2) Communicating Love, and (3) Nonviolent Communication and Peace. My intention is to write a book that represents the best in each of the courses, emphasizing practical skills that one may cultivate. As of March 2025, i have completed the first of the three books, an open access book on "listening to the song of life," available to view or download for free at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/communication_books/31/, or buy a hardcopy from amazon at:  Listening to the SONG of Life . There are MANY practices for cultivating listening, love, and peace tha...

LISTEN 2 SONG listen 2 the song self, others, nature, divine... the whole song of life i published an open access book entitled, Listening to the SONG of Life , where SONG is an acronym that stands for listening to: self (S), others (O), nature (N), and Goddess/God/the Divine (G)...available to view or download for free at: digitalcommons.odu.edu/communication_books/31/ the book introduces and explicates what i mean by "listening 2 the song" and includes research and activities for cultivating the listening skills. of the many practices in the book, some simple ones are (see book for details): self...create a relatively quiet and distraction free environment to sit and BE, noting your thoughts like clouds floating by for 5-10 minutes or longer. others...before you answer a question from someone, pause for a full 3-5 seconds, then answer. nature...go outside, take off your footwear, and stand on the bare earth for 3-5 minutes, preferably at sunrise or sunset. Goddess/God/the D...

WAVY LINES wavy lines flowing into stream, river, and sea they are YOUR brain waves! from high gamma to beta (active thinking), alpha (relaxed, meditative), theta (deep relaxation, creativity), and the lowest brain waves of delta (deep sleep, subconscious processing)--these are known brain waves with empirical referents...the "mind mirror" technology allows a visual representation of all brain waves for both brain hemispheres...Anna Wise has a protocol of meditation activities to elicit brain waves without the use of outside technology based on years of experiments and training (see book, The Awakening the Mind )..."mind mastery" is being able to enter into desired brain wave states at will, and also to enter multiple states simultaneously (as in the interlocking colored waves). These brain waves empty into the streams, rivers, and seas of our lives, influencing all that we think, do, feel... the practice is to purchase Wise's book and try out some of the activi...

DANCING TRIANGLES triangle being at center morphs into the 3 dancing females one large central triangle leads to 3 medium triangles...gives way to 3 smaller triangles...multiples into mini triangles...the solitary of the central male triangular figure gives way to dancing female figures... start at cente r and focus...let awareness expand until the feminine energies take hold and you begin to dance...

DASHES so many dashes each represents a concern colored clusters...yikes! every day we have thousands of thoughts, and according to research, most of them are less than positive...how many of these thoughts represent "concerns" (worries, anxieties, plans, cares for survival, safety, belonging, health, financiers, work, school, relationships...)...separately, the thoughts can seem innumerable and unmanageable, but clustered, they can be represented as themes (the colored clusters in the image)...these themes are parts of our being that are significant/important/meaningful to us, parts of ourselves that are calling out for attention... perhaps we should listen and see if we can meet some of those needs. find a relatively quiet and semi-privatae place to unwind for an hour with paper and writing instrument...using single words and short phrases begin a brain dump of everything that's bothering/troubling/stressing you...if you're not sure, ask, "how are you really do...

BAM! little swimming things drawn toward the center of things where sperm meets egg...BAM! when complementary elements connect, something special happens...in the case of sperm and egg in humans, a flash of bright light has been photographed representing the point of conception, the BAM, the merging of two different sets of DNA into a new, unique, never to be replicated, human being...a miracle. sperm are innately drawn to the center of things where the egg resides...the egg attracts the sperm, and the sperm swims rapidly to meet her...the unfolding of a life begins with the meeting of a single sperm and egg. metaphorically, consider the sperm one idea  and the egg another idea...how often do ideas attract one another, meet, and BAM, something new happens, a third idea is born; and, if given the right circumstances, the new idea will grow and mature into something extraordinary.  what ideas are you attracting by your behavior and thoughts as egg? what ideas are you persuing by...

FACES staring into you how many faces are there? 1 for each color there are many kinds of seeing, visually speaking...one can focus a laser beam of attention, directing it into the details of an object or scene, or one may gaze softly with an open focus, noticing the overall sense of the object or scene, and there are other kinds of gazes: contemplative, artistic, possessive, economic, loving and so forth...in this image, a simple gaze reveals a happy face...upon closer inspection, there are many faces, each with its own color, feeling, and message. how do you habitually look upon, see, and gaze at the world about you?  soft or hard or in-between?  try varying your focus upon some object that you are attracted to close to where you now read these words...look with laser-sharp focus in as much detail as you can...after about a minute, shift your gaze to a softer, gentler, all-encompassing look for another minute... which type of looking do you prefer and why?  the ability ...

ROOTS & SHOOTS roots and shoots abound feeling into air and earth perfectly balanced for every shoot that we see above the ground, there are invisible (to our eye upon the earth) roots beneath the earth supporting it...what are the unseen forces, energies, people, and spirits in our life supporting us? could we also be the supporting root structure that allows others to grow and flourish? we are both above the ground and below...supported by others and supporting...we are roots and shoots . in what ways can you develop your root capacities? consider the idea of geographic STABILITY, staying in the same place/home for decades...consider this sense of rootedness in place, providing a chance for things to be supported and grow... too often in our industrialized western U.S. culture, we value changing the geographic location of our residence/home (for many different reasons...military orders, job/career moves--better pay, position...the grass appears greener elsewhere...). what woul...